Being instakilled is never fun, which is why weapons or abilities that can instakill need to be balanced in other ways. The airstrike has a long recharge, can’t be used indoors, has a warning to enemies. The bolt-action sniper rifles need to get headshots and they don’t have a lot of ammo, and the other instakills in this game have decent balancing because they have recharges are require a lot of skill. So why can phantom’s katana instakill from the front? It has no recharge, no lack of ammunition, a massive hitbox, massive range (compared to the other melee weapons), and can kill multiple enemies in a single attack. And the downside of needing to be up close is easily fixed by camping. Even if a phantom player has no cloak, they can still camp a corner and get an instakill with very little skill. Or if they have cloak, then they can charge at you with enough health so it’s very difficult to take them down before they are in range. The katana does not need stealth to be effective as it makes all other melee weapons obsolete, so if a phantom is in range (and you aren’t rhino) you lose. So even if phantom’s cloak becomes weaker, his katana remains a low-skill high-reward weapon.
Insta-Kills
Every melee weapon can one shot 80hp mercs, and with Chopper they can each one shot 90 hp mercs. I think Stiletto even does 102 with Chopper.
The only problem with katana is the buggy hitzone and long time during which it can hit.
[quote=“Frogteam;47623”]Someone correct me if I’m wrong, but can’t every melee weapon one-hit at least 80hp mercs? At least with Chopper. (I know stiletto and cricket bat can, not sure about combat knife).
The only problem with katana is the buggy hitzone and long time during which it can hit.[/quote]
That’s only with heavy melee attack which (at least for me) is really hard to land so I don’t think that’s an issue.
[quote=“RyePanda;47626”][quote=“Frogteam;47623”]Someone correct me if I’m wrong, but can’t every melee weapon one-hit at least 80hp mercs? At least with Chopper. (I know stiletto and cricket bat can, not sure about combat knife).
The only problem with katana is the buggy hitzone and long time during which it can hit.[/quote]
That’s only with heavy melee attack which (at least for me) is really hard to land so I don’t think that’s an issue.[/quote]
It is a massive issue. Many phantoms only use the heavy attack
[quote=“PowerReef;47839”][quote=“RyePanda;47626”][quote=“Frogteam;47623”]Someone correct me if I’m wrong, but can’t every melee weapon one-hit at least 80hp mercs? At least with Chopper. (I know stiletto and cricket bat can, not sure about combat knife).
The only problem with katana is the buggy hitzone and long time during which it can hit.[/quote]
That’s only with heavy melee attack which (at least for me) is really hard to land so I don’t think that’s an issue.[/quote]
It is a massive issue. Many phantoms only use the heavy attack
[/quote]
I meant with the knives it’s not an issue, with the katana’s heavy attack it’s an issue because it does so much damage and can kill multiple targets.