Katana: What's its niche?

[Mezegis]

So I was looking to make a new, SR/ lethal weapon based tanker and was looking at the various options.  I cant for the life of me figure out why I would use katana over claws if the concept didn't require a sword.  That got me thinking about Katana's place in the secondary market.  Bsword and Axe let you use a shield, TW gets the momentum mechanic, and DB has combos.  Claws and Katana both allow the same primaries, neither one has an interesting mechanic, the only real difference is follow up/divine avalanche, an attack that does less damage, but gives you a buff.  Numbers on the attack rotation even seem similar, and I cant remember ever seeing a Katana tank in game, which leads me to my question...

When would you pick Katana and why?

 

Thanks for listening to my mumblings.

Edited April 19, 2022 by Mezegis

[Without_Pause]

Odds are I likely wouldn't pick either for a Tank specifically since lethal damage and Tank damage isn't a fun solo experience. I even stopped playing a Rad/kat because of it. If you are looking for teams, then whatever. I would further lean away from Claws on a Tank with it unquestionably being better on a Scrapper with Spin having a faster recharge. DA is useful to shore up Def numbers on a Res based build. DA can help a lower level Def based Tank until it gets its Def numbers set or in cases of being debuffed. In the end, Kat has a really strong ST attack chain. Solid if not standard Cone + PBAoE for overall AoE. It has arguably the fastest animating attacks as there is no cast time higher than 2 seconds(1.83 seconds to be exact) so it flows insanely well. Give it recharge, see Rad/kat, and that's a sword based blender.

[Psyonico]

Because it's a FREAKIN KATANA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

but seriously, other than the Shield/Broadsword combo, I believe that Katana is actually numerically better than Broadsword, so the real question should be "Why Broadsword?"

[Mezegis]

1 hour ago, Without_Pause said:

I would further lean away from Claws on a Tank with it unquestionably being better on a Scrapper with Spin having a faster recharge. 

AFAIK: Spin is stupid strong on Tanker.  Higher AoE cap, wider AoE, and buffed damage. 

[Frozen Burn]

Katana is fast.  Probably the fastest of the melee sets.  Gives you some +Def, and gives foes -Def.  As @Without_Pause mentioned, lethal damage is suboptimal for the solo tanker.  Most Tankers probably also do not take it because they want a set that has more AOEs.  Nothing wrong with that.  But I think Katana's niche is best on a Scrapper or Stalker where they can really deal out the ST damage.  

 

Katana Tankers exist.  I think I've seen 2 wandering around Torchbearer.  Again, it's all on what you want to play.  

[Arcadian-Prime]

Just now, Frozen Burn said:

Katana is fast.  Probably the fastest of the melee sets.  Gives you some +Def, and gives foes -Def.  As @Without_Pause mentioned, lethal damage is suboptimal for the solo tanker.  Most Tankers probably also do not take it because they want a set that has more AOEs.  Nothing wrong with that.  But I think Katana's niche is best on a Scrapper or Stalker where they can really deal out the ST damage.  

 

Katana Tankers exist.  I think I've seen 2 wandering around Torchbearer.  Again, it's all on what you want to play. 

On the topic of Katana Scrappers Frozen, what secondaries would you pair Katana with on a Scrapper?

[Frozen Burn]

18 minutes ago, Arcadian-Prime said:

On the topic of Katana Scrappers Frozen, what secondaries would you pair Katana with on a Scrapper?

 

Katana really pairs with everything.  /Invuln or /SR are both classic - can't go wrong there.  /Regen and /Willpower are good too especially with the +Def you can get with Katana to help things miss you and you regen build.  I LOVE my Katana/Dark Scrapper - it's a beast!  

 

I'd imagine /EA, /Ice, /Ninjitsu, and /Stone would pair well too.  

 

I haven't played Bio on a Scrapper yet, so not sure how that does there.

[Rokkeb]

On 4/19/2022 at 3:57 PM, Arcadian-Prime said:

On the topic of Katana Scrappers Frozen, what secondaries would you pair Katana with on a Scrapper?

 

Katana and Claws both go with basically every armor set a scrapper can use (except shield obv). There are quite a few people who like to take Kat with a resist set to help out with the defense soft capping through combat.

 

I personally feel like the bias against lethal attack sets is blown out of proportion. I've never had any issues killing things on a broadsword, katana, or claws character.

[Golden Azrael]

On 4/19/2022 at 7:12 PM, Mezegis said:

So I was looking to make a new, SR/ lethal weapon based tanker and was looking at the various options.  I cant for the life of me figure out why I would use katana over claws if the concept didn't require a sword.  That got me thinking about Katana's place in the secondary market.  Bsword and Axe let you use a shield, TW gets the momentum mechanic, and DB has combos.  Claws and Katana both allow the same primaries, neither one has an interesting mechanic, the only real difference is follow up/divine avalanche, an attack that does less damage, but gives you a buff.  Numbers on the attack rotation even seem similar, and I cant remember ever seeing a Katana tank in game, which leads me to my question...

When would you pick Katana and why?

 

Thanks for listening to my mumblings.

 

Katana?  Kill stuff quick is its niche.  Defence buff will have you near the melee cap sooner...   An Oxo cube machine.

 

Azrael.

[Meknomancer]

I've seen 2 Kat tanks on excel, one was mine, both had rad primary. Mine doesn't get played. Its not that its not fun, its just way more fun on other AT's. Kat tanks are force picked into sting of the wasp when you'd much rather have the faster animating gamblers cut, no other AT is forced into this pick. Entire time i played it i just thought, divine avalanche and lotus drops when i could of been running storm kick and dragons tail so it got dumped. Rad/Ma turned out to be my favourite tank, Rad/Kat my least favourite.

[Neiska]

I have had a Katana Tanker and Scrapper, to me its one of the better weapon primaries. It's fairly fast, second only to claws, and I "think" its roughly equal to dual blades. It also hits decently hard, has some nice slotting options. It doesn't have the best AoE or ST damage, but I would say its 7/10 on both. The only big downside is its all S/L, but even that's not really a deal breaker. If I had to say it's niche was anything, I would say it's a well balanced set. You could use it as a sort of measuring stick to compare the rest of the weapon sets against. 

 

TLDR - Measuring damage and speed, it feels very similar to Dual Blades, without the combo system.

 

Other peoples opinions might differ of course!

Edited April 21, 2022 by Neiska

[Without_Pause]

12 hours ago, Rokkeb said:

I personally feel like the bias against lethal attack sets is blown out of proportion. I've never had any issues killing things on a broadsword, katana, or claws character.

Just to restate my point, I am talking about in a solo setting. I could kill things, but it is just boring to do so in far too many cases. I would have gladly kept the build around if I was going to team with it more.