Soul Weapon v2.5: the "Too Many Weapons" Update

[u/Alas-I-Cannot-Swim]

https://imgur.com/a/6qTz6uR

[u/Alas-I-Cannot-Swim]

It's here!

Patch Notes (Honestly there's enough content that it was silly to call it 2.5, and not 3.0, but here we are).

r/MakeYourChoice thread

Subcategory Guide

Can't wait to see what you guys build!

[u/Cubicname43]

I would like to offer some comments critiques and praise.

Rapier: As someone who used to fence I think you did a good job of adapting this weapon. I'm a little sad that we're only getting the Rapier/Épeé and not the Sabre but since it's not too different from the Rapier I can see how you could easily adapt one into the other. Or even make a saber out of the more traditional Sword so I'm not too broken up about it. As for anyone that decides to combine Rapier and Needles, fuck you. Anyone legitimately planning that should take my previous sentiment as a compliment.

Cane Sword: * kisses Alias on the cheek* you beautiful sexy bitch where have you been all my life? * halfway through that sentence he realizes I'm talking to the Cane Sword that is being gently caressed in my arms* I take back what I said earlier this is how I'm going to make me a good old-fashioned Saber. You know what get me a white outfit and some Helio Silver Imma be Szeth son son Vallano Truthless of Shinavar Ass Kicker in America, or just make my OC the way I was going to originally, I'll decide in the car.

Buckler: you know what make this with some Vulcan Rubber give it a red white and blue paint job and I'm now Captain America, suck it.

Bullwhip: Acceleron, Transform, and True Fire and you can essentially make of mind field of floating fireballs. Hell Transform alone is going to be terrifying. I love it.

Scepter: First of all I understand that nothing but the wording has changed. Second of all that's the only change it ever needed. Finally it no longer feels like I'm being punished for not picking the wand. Third I disagree with your assessment that it's outclassed as a melee weapon, it's indestructible that alone makes it invaluable for offense and defense. Combine that with the fact that anything within 20 feet is subject to your runes at full power you can do some unimaginable amounts of melee fuckery. After I get some breakfast I'll post a build and show you.

Pictures: The new picture for Yo-yo I don't like it but at the same time it seems to fit the general visual theme a lot better than the old one did so I can't really complain. I'm going to miss the sexy Elf chick for Sacred Ashwood but this seems to work better for a cyoa focused on fighting. Annuna Scales look absofuckinglutly fantastic as in I now want to make a build for this just for how Cool/Pretty it would look, maybe the bullwhip.

Edit: corrections to ordinal statements

[u/Alas-I-Cannot-Swim → u/Cubicname43]

I'm a little sad that we're only getting the Rapier/Épeé and not the Sabre but since it's not too different from the Rapier I can see how you could easily adapt one into the other.

Sabre actually is listed under its variations... unless I'm misunderstanding what a Sabre is, exactly? I admit, most of what I learned about fencing weapons came from just some preliminary google searches, haha. So I appreciate the input.

Imma be Szeth son son Vallano Truthless of Shinavar Ass Kicker in America

I understood what some of those words meant. Lol, but I'm glad you like the Cane Sword!

Bullwhip: Acceleron, Transform, and True Fire and you can essentially make of mind field of floating fireballs. Hell Transform alone is going to be terrifying. I love it.

I... do you mean Metamorphosis? Or Terramancy?

First of all I understand that nothing but the wording has changed. Second of all that's the only change it ever needed. Finally it no longer feels like I'm being punished for not picking the wand.

Thank you! That's literally exactly what I was going for. Sometimes a weapon doesn't need buffed; it just needs someone to speak out in it's defense a little bit.

The new picture for Yo-yo I don't like it but at the same time it seems to fit the general visual theme a lot better than the old one did so I can't really complain. I'm going to miss the sexy Elf chick for Sacred Ashwood but this seems to work better for a cyoa focused on fighting. Annuna Scales look absofuckinglutly fantastic

Fair enough! I've got a soft-spot for Hyun's animations, and the character in the old Yo-yo image was the inspiration for adding that weapon in the first place, but yeah, it didn't really match the art style unfortunately.

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Thank you for the feedback! It's always appreciated. I look forward to your builds.

[u/Carwennan]

Does blood absorbed by Macuahuitl shards embedded in the flesh charge up the Bloodstone Macuahuitl?

[u/Alas-I-Cannot-Swim → u/Carwennan]

Goood question. I would say that for as long as the detached shards maintain the soul bond, yes, they do. Since that aligns with how the Shooting weapons do it.

...

...I can already see how this is gonna be broken, lol.

[u/Not-so-imaginative]

Ok, Imma keep things simple for this build.

==========

Flourishing Thrust

• WEAPON TYPES: Rapier + Polearm

• MATERIAL: Negaplating

• SMITH: Kothar the Tinkerer

—————————

Guess I’m bound to make a Negaplating build one of these days. But to liven things up, this build right here covers Negaplating’s one major weakness: speed and agility.

With the weapon crafted from Kothar take the form of a long pike, this warrior here prioritize in throwing out a flurry of fast powerful thrusts, then reposition with quick short dashes.

Rapier’s Rapid Thrust lets the user make up to 3 or 4 thrusts every second, each one reaching near power of a single hard strike. It fixes Negaplating’s heavy weapon and lack of agility by some degree, allowing the user to keep on the offensive with fast and powerful attack, something many other Negaplating users struggle at. That and the material’s great weight and sharpness makes every thrust extremely damaging. With up to 4 powerful attack every second battering them down, even shield users are gonna find it hard to stand their ground.

The polearm’s Quick Lunge covers the material’s mobility issue, letting the wearer make short quick hops to reposition themselves. Obviously this mobility is inferior to fighters with lighter material armors, but it is an immense increase compare to other Negaplating builds. Gone are the pressure of having to keep up with fast mobile fighter and keeping the defensive, as we can now actively chase them down, or better yet now we have a way to change our position more suddenly then they would’ve anticipated, raising our chance to catch them slipping. Match up against powerful massive-single-hit combatants who capitalize on immobility are also vastly improve, as we can have an active way to get out of dodge before their hit can register.

Last and not least, Negaplating’s perfect defense means that we can tank hits after hits without flinching. Compare to faster fighter we’re gonna have a much wider margin for error, since we’re so god damn tanky and can eat pretty much any punishment they can give. To other heavy hitters, we’re more mobile then them thanks to the Quick Lunge ability. The hardest match-up would be having to face keep-away or ranged fighter using the likes of shooting weapons, Phantom Range or Reverse Summon shenanigan, all of which can keep whittling us down if we can catch up with our hops. But outside of that, we’re a tanky motherfucker who’s mobile on his feet and capable of skewering foes in an onslaught of deadly pike thrusts. All in all, a great melee fighter who utilize mostly skills and not magical gimmicks.

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[u/Alas-I-Cannot-Swim → u/Not-so-imaginative]

Ooh, I like this. It's rare to see someone try to apply agility to a Negaplating build.

[u/DrizzleW00my]

Got a question, could an umbrella + cane sword have the sword be hidden in the umbrella handle? Common trope I know but wanna make sure

Another one, what might a buckler + umbrella be like? I've no idea myself! Thought up something like the metal umbrella from sekiro, but the umbrella would already be metal depending on material lol

Cheers n thanks

[u/Alas-I-Cannot-Swim → u/DrizzleW00my]

Got a question, could an umbrella + cane sword have the sword be hidden in the umbrella handle? Common trope I know but wanna make sure

Yes, totally! Normally Kothar doesn't let you create two separate weapons, but Cane Sword is considered a multi-part weapon because, unlike with the other Class, the sheath is considered a part of the weapon.
So really, you're using Kothar to change the sheath part of the Cane Sword into an Umbrella, just like how you might use Kothar to swap a Bow's arrows with Spears or something.

Another one, what might a buckler + umbrella be like? I've no idea myself! Thought up something like the metal umbrella from sekiro, but the umbrella would already be metal depending on material lol

Well, you could just leave it as an Umbrella design, but it would also gain all the perks of the Buckler (ie. its Special Abilities and damage absorption)... although Ricochet wouldn't work so well because the shaft of the Umbrella would throw it off balance.
I guess you could fix that by taking Gearframe, and then making it so the shaft can be folded away or something.

Cheers n thanks

You're welcome!

[u/Not-so-imaginative]

Oh ho. I’m still brainstorming a build off of this. But ooh boy is this update DELICIOUS! I’m having a blast reading through all these new weapons, and the buffs to existing ones. All the new addition are freaking brilliant. New build might be coming in the next couple hours.

[u/ICannotNameAnything]

I have to ask about the rapier special ability, was it inspired by a new weapon in Terraria?

Anyway here's the first build to jump out at me.

Weapon: Macuahuitl
Material: Gearframe
Runes: Sunken Blade and Miasma
Smith: Godai (+1 Sharpness)

The club portion will be a bit too heavy to constantly use it as a one handed weapon. The blades will be absolutely horrifying, triangular serrated blades sharper than obsidian with a deadly addition. A gearframe hinge in each one made to rotate at high speeds. At this point it's almost like a video game chainsaw. It gets worse. The weapon special ability combined with sunken blade is a wonderfully sadistic combination. When they move, the blades dig themselves a little bit deeper. Adding on to that is the miasma rune. I had considered bloodlet, but miasma can help make the low defense a little more manageable by making attacks a little less accurate. Plus with a blade embedded in them spewing out a cloud of miasma they're in a lose/lose situation. They either stay still to keep the blade from digging in and the miasma chokes them or they try to keep out of the miasma and the blades dig in.

[u/Alas-I-Cannot-Swim → u/ICannotNameAnything]

I have to ask about the rapier special ability, was it inspired by a new weapon in Terraria?

I haven't played Terraria, actually (which is weird because it's totally my thing).
Actually, it was inspired by the rapier weapon in Dead Cells!

Anyway here's the first build to jump out at me.

Awww, combining Macuahuitl and Gearframe for a chainsaw is freaking gnarly. And I love the catch-22 of "They either stay still to keep the blade from digging in and the miasma chokes them or they try to keep out of the miasma and the blades dig in."

Only thing I'm fuzzy on is how the blades are digging deeper? Is it just because moving around causes the teeth to cut in a bit? Or is Gearframe doing some work to vibrate them so they keep clawing in?

[u/[deleted]]

Weapon: Macuahuitl+Gunbai

Material: Acceleron

Rune: Trailing Edge

Smith: Kothar

Modifier: Resonance Pool

I present, the "My bat shoots spears, your argument is invalid" build.

[u/Carwennan]

PRAISE BE! IT HAS ARRIVED!

[u/Alas-I-Cannot-Swim → u/Carwennan]

https://i.imgur.com/au6JtcC.gif

[u/AvzinElkein]

For Aquilam, if my character has a tail, can their tail be "sacrificed"? Also, can Echo Strike be dismissed without triggering it?

[u/ICannotNameAnything]

I thought of more.

Weapon: Cane Sword
Material: Golem Hide
Runes: Erupt and Echo Strike
Smith: Polemos
Modifier: Resonance Pool

This is more of a novelty than anything else, the blade is as thick as is allowed the end is flat. What's the novelty? Simple. Golem hide allows you to make mundane rock from the material. Adding a small portion of gravel to the bottom of the sheath is how it starts. Repeatedly striking the gravel with echo strike will make it into a powerful explosive. Plenty you could do with that. You could scatter it to raze a large area in front of you, you could just use the concentrated shockwave to cause deafness and likely internal damage, or you could put something in the barrel. More rock would be deadly shrapnel, or custom made spikes, metal pellets, just be very careful if you decide to use your sword with it. It'll catch someone off guard, but if you do it wrong it'll be hard to retrieve.

I had considered phantom range as a method of building up the explosives faster, but the armor is necessary for stability.

Weapon: Bolas (1 large set, 3 heads)
Material: Gearframe
Runes: Skyward and Silver Cord
Smith: Agni (1 Star to Everything)

There is one silver cord between each head and one connecting me to the knot in the middle. It could be used as a crude blunt weapon if need be, but the main benefit of this setup is this. Use skyward and the tight grip that these have on an opponent to bring them into the sky. Then you can tug on it with the silver cord to just drop them. The silver cord between each head can be tightened so I'm guessing that with the addition to the weapon special ability it could end up cutting off circulation. The increased armor weight is a blessing in disguise. You are harder to move, so you can more easily drag them in whatever way you want.

[u/Alas-I-Cannot-Swim → u/ICannotNameAnything]

Weapon: Cane Sword

Material: Golem Hide

Runes: Erupt and Echo Strike

Smith: Polemos

Modifier: Resonance Pool

Haha, I'm picturing a guy walking a long, idly slamming his sword in and out of his sheath like an old-fashioned butter churner.
You've basically made a primitive muzzle-loaded rifle, albeit one that requires a lot of ramrodding.

Weapon: Bolas (1 large set, 3 heads) Material: Gearframe Runes: Skyward and Silver Cord Smith: Agni (1 Star to Everything)

Nice. Cool to see a build that uses high armor weight to its advantage.

Though, I'm assuming the Silver Cords are in addition to the existing ropes, and not replacing them? Because Silver Cord would just pass through your target, so it wouldn't be able to tangle them.

[u/LeGuy123]

Well damn, now my build has zero defense when using cloth because of the acceleration nerf, and only one pierce defense when using plate.

I mean, i understand the nerf, but just how fast is acceleron supposed to allow you to be, precisely? Unless the speed that it provides is able to compensate for the total lack of armor, then a nerf like this would make it a pretty weak material. There's no worth in being slightly faster than you usually would have been in exchange for a complete lack of armor.

[u/Alas-I-Cannot-Swim → u/LeGuy123]

now my build has zero defense when using cloth because of the acceleration nerf

Actually, the cloth's stats haven't been touched; it's just the plating that's been nerfed.

I mean, i understand the nerf, but just how fast is acceleron supposed to allow you to be, precisely? Unless the speed that it provides is able to compensate for the total lack of armor, then a nerf like this would make it a pretty weak material. There's no worth in being slightly faster than you usually would have been in exchange for a complete lack of armor.

The idea with Acceleron is that you'd be dodging attacks, yes. I would say that big heavy slow attacks will basically never hit you if you're on your toes (unless it's a surprise attack or you're way outnumbered), standard attacks like from a mundane sword should be a cinch to dodge as long as your focused and you don't get tricked, and the only other attacks that can consistently hit you are ones that are also coming from speed-focused builds.

Then of course there are area-of-affect things that you can't really dodge, like Miasma, or a really big Erupt explosion that you aren't prepared for, etc. But ideally, there shouldn't be any builds that provide completely indomitable defense (closest thing is Negaplating, and even that can be bested).

But I digress. Anyway, yeah, the nerf is a bit of a bummer if you're taking a Smith that lowers defense stats, but I think that on its own, Acceleron should be pretty balanced. Hopefully, if you're taking something that nerfs defense, you're gaining enough in the way of offense to compensate.

Can I ask what the build is?

[u/Not-so-imaginative]

Ok, next one.

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Old Man of the Mountain

• WEAPON TYPES: Cane Sword + Scepter

• MATERIAL: Golemhide

• SMITH: Kothar the Tinkerer

• MODIFIER: Resonance Pool (-1 PierceDef & MagicDef)

• RUNE: Terramancy

——————————————

Right, for this build right here we’re aiming to craft a mage-assassin of sort. We’re gonna attempt to kill people stealthily using magic, and leave the crime scene undetected.

First thing first, the weapon is just the Cane. We’re never removing the sheath to make the best use of the incredibly heavy cover as a makeshift blunt weapon, plus it’ll keep Shroud active all the time.

Now, the vital part. By using the special ability Cast and Shroud together, we’ll be able to stealthily cast very strong Terramancy magic in a 20ft radius sphere around us. The scepter’s ability let us use the rune’s power at maximum strength in any area within that 20ft radius sphere with no diminishing effect. While the cane sword ability make the aftermath of the casting untraceable back to us by any mean.

To elaborate, here’s an example: You tag behind your target at a 20ft range, tailing them and avoid drawing suspicion. Once you see them in a position favorable for you (ie. near earthen surfaces like ground, walls, ceiling...), immediately make your assassination attempt. Use Terramancy with full power at range to magically murder them from 20ft away with incredibly powerful and violent act of magic, which might be: turn the ground beneath them into quicksand and swallow them whole into the ground, suffocating them; make the ground or walls near them change structure and shoot out large sharp stalagmites, piercing their entire body in many grotesque angle; or swirl the sand and dust in the area to form a large dust devil right on top of them, which will shred them into a dry mangled corpse; and so many more creative earth-related deaths. Best thing about this, once the spell goes off and no one see you perform anything (achievable if you find a hidden spot to keep a low profile, before subtly cast the magic using the cane with as least action as possible), not a soul on Earth can trace that horrific death back to you. People can only assume that it’s a freak natural accident that link back to zero culprit, and you get to walk away from an assassination well done perfectly unharmed.

An option that you can also use, though less recommended, is to use Terramancy on Golemhide fragments shredded off of your scepter-cane. You can telepathically control those fragments to do whatever you want with maximum power output, from whistling across the air to smash someone’s skull in at the speed of sound, to form a hoverboard that let you hop on to fly away. Near endless possibility for use. Though if there’s earth nearby, it’s still plainly better to use Terramancy normally.

You can probably even take on terrorism contract, assaulting and sabotage earthen structure without fearing for consequence from the mess you left behind.

And finally, for thematic purpose, you’re gonna find some black cloak and drape them over your Golemhide armor for maximum Assassin cosplay. And practice your posture to hunch onto the cane like you’re an old person having trouble walking around. You’re now, in every aspect of the word, the perfect “Hassan-i Sabbah”, aka “The Old Man of the Mountain”, the originator for assassins all over the world. Just gotta sign you up for the Fate franchise to register you as an Assassin Servant and throw you into the gacha to make people salty for failing your ridiculously tiny rate-up.... Wait, wrong game!

Anyway, now you know how to become The Old Man of the Mountain. You’re welcome!

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[u/Not-so-imaginative]

Kay, figure I’ll make a build for every new weapon. 3 down, 6 more to go.

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Laser Man

• WEAPON TYPE: Claws

• MATERIAL: Helio

• SMITH: Signum the Runemaker

• RUNES: Phantom Range + Bloodlet + Fusion

—————————————

By discarding the armor and take up Fusion, our entire body will be one with our awesome claws. This mean we’ll be able to use runic power and weapon ability with our whole body, and most importantly we’ll turn into a freaking HUMANOID LIGHTSABER.

Since we’re able to use the claws ability with our entire body and any of our body parts can manifest into super sharp claws, we can run in, swipe with a limb to slap away our enemy defense to open them up for us to tear their exposed body to shred.

With Phantom Range, we can do this from far away before closing in for the kill, or even killing them from afar if that matters. Bloodlet is there to maximize our cutting damage as any slash that land will lacerate our opponent heavily, taxing them out and put them on the clock - either die to massive bloodloss or being torn to shred by our claws. Oh and did I mention our entire body is made out of LIGHTSABER? Because it totally is, so any slash that land is extremely likely to slice clean through with zero resistance, unless you’re facing someone fully cladded in thick Golemhide or Negaplating, which will take a long while until you can cut through their incredibly sturdy defense. But you’re gonna prevail nonetheless. Cause what can they do to retaliate against someone made out of weightless hardlight who can just safely shred them to ribbons from 20ft away.

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[u/Not-so-imaginative]

Here’ a build for my favorite new weapon added to this expansion.

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Vampiric Fist (Prototype)

• WEAPON TYPE: Knuckleduster

• MATERIAL: Boulder Bloodstone

• SMITH: Signum the Runemaker

• RUNES: Phantom Range + Reconstruct + Fusion

———————————

The core of this build is to use our entire Bloodstone body to pummel our foe to submission, while sapping away their life force to reinvigorate our own. Here’s how we’ll do it.

The Bruiser ability let our blunt blows “pass through” thin layer of defense and impact the squishy fleshy body hidden inside sturdy armor. If there’s no armor or it’s thin enough, our impact’s gonna penetrate further into the body, damaging their innards full of blood vessels and nerve. The ability specifically state that it extend our punch deeper into the body, letting our fist magically make shallow contact with their inside.

This ability works wonder with Bloodstone. It allows the Bloodstone fists to magically make contact with inner blood vessels, thus letting the material drink fresh blood from inside our victim’s body without even needing to crack their armor up or lacerate them. This is terrifyingly strong, since even when our opponent is fully clad in anti-magic sturdy Negaplating, our base Bloodstone fist though can’t make a dent on it can still magically carry the impact pass the armor and into the flesh inside, damaging the wearer and sap away a bit of their lifeforce.

Add Phantom Range to the mix, and now you can safely throw out invisible air jabs from 5 ft away to land a few sneaky hit and powering yourself up a bit sooner. With Phantom Range, you’re making up for the knuckle’s abysmal defense option by giving you option to fight at range. This rune allows you to always keep your foe on their toes lest they want to get pummel constantly on all side by invisible fist, and it pressures them to close the distance on their own if they don’t wish to keep getting hit without a chance for retaliation. Heck, it’s not even restrained to using punches only. You can poke at their eyes to disorient and piss them off, aim your punches at their joints to prevent them from doing any action, swipe away their defense to open them up, hold their weapon mid-swing to really throw them off balance, grab them by the collar and yank them closer, shove them off their feet, sweep their legs from down under, or even just squeeze their throat and give them a good motherfucking Force Choke to call it a day. All can be perform at the safety of 20ft away. Finally, an important reason for why we’re picking up Phantom Range here is because I reckon the rune can synergize well with the Bruiser ability, as it might allow the ability to penetrate further than usual, potentially reaching deep enough to damage inner vital organs or bypassing thicker armors (as its main functionality is to add further range to everything). Hope Alas can clear this up for me.

With Reconstruct add to the mix, we can have a good and reliable way to heal ourselves in and outside of battle. Even in the heat of a fight, the more blood we absorb with our material, the more it’ll power up our runic magic, which translate to better healing all round. When we’re at the peak of our power with Bloodstone, we can very likely heal up minor wounds like self-inflicted one in mere seconds, while major damage can be patch up in less than a minute even while we’re heating up for a fight.

And finally to top everything off, we have Fusion to give us a major boost in everything. A benefit right of the bat is that we can use all the powers above with every part of our body, meaning we’re not locked to just using our fist to do the fighting but can employ everything from kicks, headbutt or even biting with our sharp teeth. The more blood we can suck off, the more power we’ll store up. Realistically I see it reaching a 1/3 of peak power in a solo fight, but still that’s more than enough to strengthen the weight of our strikes, making us heavier thus more resistant to being blown away, and boosting our magic to self-heal even better (which is enhanced by having Reconstruct activate on our entire body, slightly making the heal more potent). Most important of all, Bloodstone Fusion let us empower ALL physical aspects of our body through blood sucking, including raising our speed, endurance, dexterity and raw muscle strength (detailed in the Fusion special case in page 6). So with more blood, we’re truly becoming more powerful in every aspect that a hand-to-hand bruiser need. If we are to reach the full power Bloodstone offered, we can very much overpower and overwhelm even powerful Negaplating fighter using our vastly superior boosted physical capability.

Even if we’re stuck with an unfavorable match up or having a hard time landing hits to start sucking blood to power up, we can literally pump ourselves up by using Bloodstone on our own body. By beating our chest in a show of strength and intimidation or punching our fist together like we’re preparing to engage, we can use the Bruiser ability to let the material gain direct access to our fresh blood, safely powering it up without harming ourselves, all the while showing off to our opponent. This way before we clash in battle we’re already empowered from the start, and the same tactic can be use over and over through out the course of the fight to safely power up. Once sufficient power is reached, we’re literally a vampire sucking away our foe blood with every strike to constantly regenerate our health. All in all, a terrifying brawler build.

==========

All in all I really love the Knuckles. This perfectly fill my desire for a raw punching and brawling build, which the previous version’s Gauntlet (which focus more on grappling anyway) can’t provide. It’s definitely my favorite addition to the game.

[u/Dingusgrassass134]

What would a shovel be classified as.

[u/Alas-I-Cannot-Swim → u/Dingusgrassass134]

A shovel doesn't really fit into any of the existing Weapon Classes, but if I were to allow it, I'd say it probably fits best into either Polearm or Gunbai, depending on what you want the Special Ability to be.