Stab Accuracy Armor

[slender tendon]

Even though this may probably be planned in the next 1-2 years, I am suggesting a final set of accuracy armor to complete the trio of stab/slash/crush. I have attached a document I created with the help of GearScape to compare how various weapons benefit, taking into account Oathplate/Inquisitor. Please give it a read and let me know if it makes sense.

Since the release of oathplate and inquisitor, there has been a gap in melee gear progression, specifically armor with the same stats as bandos/faceguard, but with stab accuracy matching that of inquisitor and oathplate. I have seen many comments saying stab armor could never release because it would make Osmumten’s Fang too broken due to its double accuracy roll. I am here to put forward the case that given an appropriate rarity to acquire, between Oathplate and Inquisitor, it will neatly slot into the existing progression and will not be a balance problem.

While it is true that Fang scales exceptionally well with accuracy bonus, the misconception that it would make it way too powerful is flawed. More accuracy when you have a good amount tends to have diminishing returns, which balances out this stat boost. The real problem is Fang outdpsing other styles on bosses where it’s intended not to stab. However, I argue that this is ok if the armor is appropriately difficult to acquire and that oathplate and inquisitor buffs slash and crush weapons a similar amount in most cases. And, depending on the other weapon’s comparison, it is ok to outdps, given this is supposed to be an endgame gearset. In fact, in many cases, it will buff the Ghrazi Rapier even more. In conclusion, this set will be a much needed buff to Ghrazi Rapier, as well as boosting Fang in certain high defense bosses, as well as providing a high accuracy set for a theoretical stab megarare.

Rapier vs Fang: https://gearscape.net/calculators/dps?preset=b5eeb31911

Whip vs Fang: https://gearscape.net/calculators/dps?preset=efa183b8e7

[ashen imp]

While I see the logical reward space for this given the other armours I think it encroaches too much on Torvas use cases. This would push Torva out of some of the niches it still has after the introduction of oathplate. It will end up only being used to push scythe-max thresholds (with 1 or 2 pieces) and on 0 def mobs.
I'd rather they "spend" the coming rewards on fleshing out the new ranged styles recently introduced in terms of style-specific armours/weapons. Melee has gotten a lot of attention lately with rancour+oath+scythe buffs, and mage upgrades are locked behind a shadow rework.

[shell pilot]

I feel like ranged rewards could pair well with sailing, too since you have cannons on your ship

[slender tendon]

As Torva is a generalist armor, I agree it needs some upgrades/buffs

Same argument could've been made to prevent oath anyway

But it shouldn't prevent stab armor because Torva's niche shouldn't be stab anyway - rather a general set for medium to low defense for all styles

[ashen imp]

Since stab is also not a scythe style the max hits are not as important. So you'd likely end up always taking full stab armour instead of a mix of slash/crush+torva that you do with the scythe.
There would be no high level bosses where you'd take full torva to anymore (until the next scy max maybe?) because nothing currently fits the niche of generalist melee or low defence. The closest thing we have is moons and by the time you own torva you're likely way beyond that bossing-stage.

You also cant make the stab armour harder to aquire than Torva or you'd have a sizable chunk of the playerbase in riots. So it doesn't make sense for it to push out torva even further on the basis of how hard it would be to get imo.

[eternal quartz]

Oathplate devalued torva anyways

if they make stab armour easy to get like oath its going to be another disaster