---
# System prepended metadata

title: Sword Skill Tree Overhaul
tags: [combat]

---

# Sword Skill Tree Overhaul
###### tags: `combat`

## Playstyle:
- Combo based
- Stances
    - Many abilities will focus on swapping stances
- Fast triggered abilities
- Counters

### Niche:
- Stances

### Primary Ability:
- Combo melee
    - In-air: downward strike
    - Swimming: stabs
    - Forward movement: additional forward movement in attack

### Secondary Ability:
- Lunge or thrust
    - Narrow attack angle
    - Potentially consume combo

### Skilltree branches
- Balanced stance
    - Splits into offensive stance
        - Splits into crippling stance
        - Splits into cleaving stance
    - Splits into defensive stance
        - Splits into parrying stance
        - Splits into pommel stance
    - Splits into mobility stance
        - Splits into reaching stance
        - Splits into air slash stance

- Activating a particular stance gives access to a combo (each strike may consume energy and/or combo)
- Finishers should consume all combo and scale with amount
- Using an ability in the correct stance requires less energy to activate

- Balanced stance
    - (Normal attacks)
    - Finisher
        - No scaling off combo, minimum combo threshold
- Offensive stance
	- (More damaging)
    - Finisher
        - Linear scaling of damage off combo, minimum combo threshold
    - Forward step attack
- Crippling stance
    - (Offensive stance but also with higher chance of or more severe debuffs)
    - Finisher
        - Linear scaling of bleed debuff off combo, minimum combo threshold
    - Crippling strike
    - Bleeding based attack (gouge, maybe?)
- Cleaving stance
    - (Offensive stance, but is aoe and can hit multiple enemies)
    - Spin
    - Finisher
        - No scaling off combo, minimum combo threshold. If target dies from finisher, allow attack to hit one additional enemy
    - Dive
- Defensive stance
    - (Blocking can interrupt an attack)
    - Self buff protection
    - Back step attack
- Parrying stance
    - (Defensive stance, but buildup of strikes functions as parrying)
    - Parry
    - Riposte
    - Counter
- Heavy stance
    - (Defensive stance, but slower and resistant to poise in buildup)
    - Pommel strike
    - Poise immune ability
    - Finisher
        - Linear scaling of poise off combo, minimum combo threshold
- Mobility stance
    - (Faster and less damage, if roll change allow roll to interrupt any time)
    - Feints (based off movement direction)
        - Feint moves in a direction then back to original position
    - Speed buff (either self or aura)
- Reaching stance
    - (Mobility stance, but narrow angle and longer reach)
    - Charge/dash
    - Flurry
    - Impale
- Air slash stance
    - (Mobility stance but even further decrease to damage, also air slashes)
    - Vertical line
    - Horizontal line
    - Whirlwind

### Energy Regen:
- Swapping stances
    - Regen more energy on first strikes in a stance, with diminising regen while in stance

## Contextual Abilities:
- Stationary
- Forward movement
- Sideways movement
- Reverse movement
- Sneaking
- Swimming
- Mounted
- In-air